OAKLEY — The difficulty of enforcing its ordinance against noisy dogs has prompted the city of Oakley to consider simplifying the rules.

Council members deliberated Tuesday whether to replace the specific criteria that barking dogs must meet for there to be a violation of the law with more general language that would make it easier to cite the animals’ owners.

Oakley’s Municipal Code currently stipulates that vocal dogs become an unreasonable disturbance when they bark continuously for 15 minutes or intermittently for 30 minutes.

But that requires authorities responding to complaints to stay in that spot for at least 15 minutes to determine whether the canine is actually violating the law, and if it doesn’t bark while they’re there, a repeat visit becomes necessary, further stretching already limited manpower, said Chief Building Official Brent Smith.

Oakley pays the county $191,144 annually to be the first point of contact for residents bothered by these type of problems, although the two animal control officers available also must cover all of East Contra Costa County from Bay Point to Discovery Bay, according to Lt. Nancy Anderson of the county Animal Services Department.

The city’s code enforcement officers respond to barking as well, as do Oakley police when the problem arises after-hours.

One alternative is for the city to scratch its existing ordinance and follow the county’s instead, although the latter establishes other requirements that also can make enforcement difficult: Two people living in different homes must complain about barking before animal control officers will intervene, Anderson said.

As such, council members are considering a second option: Revising the city’s ordinance to be less restrictive.

On the table is a proposal to fashion it after Antioch’s, which prohibits residents from allowing their dog “to bark or howl with such frequency, or in such manner, as to disturb the peace of the immediate neighborhood.” Oakley’s legal counsel acknowledged in its staff report on the matter that the simple wording makes identifying violations a more subjective process, however, and Smith cautioned the public against expecting that a change to the Municipal Code will produce results overnight.

The city attorney now will modify the existing ordinance and bring it back to the council in September for approval.

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